Seal for cans



Feb. 23, 1954 .T. H. THOMPSON 2,670,098

SEAL FOR CANS 1 Filed Jan. 10, 1951 FIG. 2

FIG. 3

INVENTOR. TOM H. THOMPSON BY @Jbflm AT T OR NEY Patented Feb. 23, 1954 2,670,098 H I slianron onus rum.n;'rno psoninayionaeeacn,Fla, assi'g nor of one-half to Charles Creighton, Ilaytona.

Beach, Fla.

. Application January-.10, 1951,. serial no; 295.2% Claims. (01:220-47) prepared can for food and the like with a. lid

therefor which may be removed. from. the can after sealing without the use of a can opener, key or other instrument.

For a number of years, various foods and other items have been preserved by means of canning. and the canning industry has. made great strides both in the. type of material used and the coating of metal cans and in the method. of pressure sealing. However, little efiort has been put forth to provide a. can for such commodities. which may be hermetically sealed and yet provide a means of opening without the use of a can opener or other instrument.

With so many foods and other commodities now being canned, substantially every home. is provided with one or more can. openers varying from the single pointed knife type to elaborate wheeled mechanisms,v each and. all of which are dangerous in that they actually out the metal top of the can above the contents and create the possibility of metal chips falling; into the can. Housewives not supplied with the more expensive types. of openers often. spend laborious minutes opening a. can with some dull instrument while they simultaneously subject their hands to iniury as well as the. contents of the can.

It. is an object of the present invention to provide a specially prepared can anda lid. there.-

for whereby the lidmay be easily applied. to the can for sealingthe content and whereby the lid may be removed by handwithout the usetof aconventional can opener or key Another object of the, invention. is; toprovide a can for foods and the like comprising: an. open ended cylinder with. sealing jackets for each end meeting and locking with each other at a medial point on the cylinder, the. locking joint being easily disjoined by hand to open the can.

Further objects and advantages of the. invention will be found in the.- course .of the followin detailed description when viewed together with the accompanying. drawing. in which:

Fig. 1 i an elevational view or a cenmade in. accordance with the teachings oithe present inventiomthe same being shown in the. complete;-

ly sealed position. .g. 2 is. a. view similar to that of Fig.. h but showing. a step in removing the, sealed lid." from the can. 1 F g. 3 is a cr ss. sectional. view takenv along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. v Fig; 4. is an elevational view partly n r n- -seetion showing the invention'in form.

n is slipped overthe cylinder I10.-

Fig. 5 is an exploded detail view of the as sembly illustrated in, 4. showing. the lid. r moved.

In the drawing, numeral ill designates an 012.811 ended cylinder of any length conforming to a standard of can sizes, To close one, end of the cylinder, I have prepared a bottom portion. l'l adapted to slidably receive the cylinder, end, the side wall thereof extending upwardly along the cylinder to any point along the cylinder length. The upper rim of the bottom portion 11 is P vicled with serrations more nearly resembling gear teeth H. as shown in detail in the modified view of Fig, 5. The upper rim 01' the bottom portion must be divided. into. a number of Whol teeth; that is, each tooth and tooth space mus be uniform so that the interlochine. teeth. of th lid will be perfectly matched therewith. It will also be noted that the number of teeth placed on the rimis unimportant-solong as the spacing is equally divided.

7 I have also prepared an, upper lid (3 mad imilar to the bottom portion ill. This lid is also provided with teeth l4 Qfthe'same size and shape as those l2 on, the lower portion. and also or the same. number.

To prepare the canfor use, the bottom portion When the lower rim of the. cylinder I'll abuts the bot om 01 the portion. II. the point of junction it may be soldered or any of'the. well known lock joints may tion H just below the base of the teeth [2. Each of the teeth on the bottom portion is then folded around the ring 16 in the manner best illustrated in Fig. 3. It will beunderstood that the ring I6 is made of material, circular in cross-section, of a strength and size sufiicient to hold the lid, yet flexible enough so that the same may be peeled from the can as will bedescribed later. As shown in Fig. I a short length I! of the ring I6 is left protruding from the line of the teeth I 2 to be used as a gri ping means or handle when the. same is stripped from the can.

When the: lid I3 is ready to be placed onfthe can, the same is fitted, over the upper end of th cylinder- In. On the inside of thelid 1.3 I hav positioned a rubber sealing ring 18 which may -.-be secured to the inside of the lid or placed loosely edge of the cylinder It) to hermetically seal the can.

The teeth I 4 of the lid will, of course, be enmeshed with those of the bottom I I, these teeth also fitting behind the split ring l6. To look the joint thus made, the upper teeth II are bent upwardly ,and folded. around the split ring 16 in the same manner as those of the lower jacket. The can is now completely sealed and is ready for shipping or storage.

To open the can, it is only necessary to grasp the protruding end ll of the split ring I6 and pull. The pulling force will, deform and disengage the interlocked teeth in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2 and release the lid for removal.

While the position of the locked joint may be placed anywhere along the height of the can,

cylinder :9.

In the present construction it will be noted that the can is sealed as perfectly as if both ends were soldered in the conventional manner,

and the contents are actually protected by a double wall against spoilage or damage.

In Figs. 4 and 5, I have illustrated my invention in a modified form which consists in providing a conventional can le'with a conventional bottom 23: In this construction, a relatively narrow band 2!, provided with teeth 22 on its upper rim edge of the size and shape as mentioned above, is soldered around the side walls of the can near the top thereof at a position sufiicient to interlock with the teeth of the lid l3. The split ring 16 is mounted around the band 2| by bending its'teeth 22 over and around it in the manner illustrated in Fig. 5, and the lid [3' is then mounted in the same manner as above described. The sealing ring [8' is also used to hermetically seal the can, as shown.

As seen in the constructions shown and described, I have provided an unique can and a method of sealing not heretofore known or used in the prior art. The can is simple in construction and easily produced with presently known jmachinery. The can may be opened without the use of anyv can opener or other special instrument and may evenfbe re-used by re-applying the split ring and locking the toothed joint as described. It may be made in any size whether for containing foods, paints, oils or the like and further modified in any manner within the purview of the following claims.

about said fastening means and held thereto by said spaced teeth which are contiguously bent about said split ring, teeth on the side wall portion of said lid engaging said split ring, said last mentioned teeth being bent about said split ring and interspersed between the teeth on said fastening means to lock said lid in sealed position on said cylinder, the top of said lid being drawn down by said teeth on the side wall portion of said lid to. bind said lid in sealing relaxtionshipwith said cylinder, 1

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising an open ended cylinder, bottom means closing one end of said cylinder, a lid closing the other end of said cylinder, said lid having top and side wall portions, fastening means secured to said cylinder for fastening said lid on said cylinder, said fastening means being provided with spaced teeth, a split ring having free ends which are unattached, said ring being placed about said fastening means and held thereto by said spaced teeth which are bent outwardly and downwardly about said split ring, teeth on the side wall portion of said lid engaging said split ring, said last mentioned teeth being bent outwardly and upwardly about said split ring and interspersed between the teeth on said fastening means to lock said lid in sealed position on said cylinder, the top of said lid being drawn down by said teeth on the side wall portion of said lid to bind said lid in sealing relationship with said cylinder, said last mentioned teeth being deformable by tension on said split ring to release said ring for removal of said lid.

3. Apparatus of the class described comprising an open ended cylinder, bottom means closing one end of said cylinder, a lid closin the other end of said cylinder, said lid having top and side wall portions, fastening means secured to said cylinder for fastening said lid on said cylinder, said fastening means being provided with spaced teeth, a split ring having free ends which are unattached, said ring being placed about said fastening means and held thereto by said spaced teeth which are bent about said split ring, teeth on the side wall portion of said lid engaging said split ring, said last mentioned teeth being bent about said split ring and interspersed between the teeth on said fastening means to lock said lid in sealed position on said cylinder, the top of said lid being drawn down by said teeth on the side wall portion of said lid to bind said lid in sealing relationship with said cylinder, said last mentioned teeth being deformable by tension on said split ring to release said ring for removal of said lid.

4. Apparatus of the class described comprising an open ended cylinder, bottom means closing one end of said cylinder, a lid closing the other end of said cylinder, said lid having top and side wall portions, fastening means secured to said cylinder for fastening said lid on said cylinder, said fastening means being provided with spaced teeth, a split ring having free ends which are unattached, said ring being placed about said fastening means and held thereto by said spaced teeth which are bent about said split ring, teeth on the'side wall portion of said lid engaging said split ring, said last mentioned teeth being bent about said split ring and interspersed between the teeth on said fastening means to lock said lid in sealed position on said cylinder, resilient sealing material inside said lid, the top of said lid being drawn down by said teeth on the side 'wall portion of said lid to bind said resilient material in sealing relationship with said cylinder, said last mentioned teeth being deformable by tension on said split ring to release said ring for removal of said lid.

5. Apparatus of the class described comprising an open ended'cylinder, bottom means closing one end of said cylinder, outer wall means secured to said bottom means and surrounding the lower portion of said cylinder, a lid closing the other end of said cylinder, said lid having top and side .we ln t qna. i tcn nem n secured sa d outer wall means for fastening said lid on said cylinder, said fastening means being provided with spaced teeth, a split ring having free ends which are unattached, said ring being placed about said fastening means and held thereto by said spaced teeth which are bent outwardly and downwardly about said split ring, teeth on the side wall portion of said lid engaging said split ring, said last mentioned teeth being bent outwardly and upwardly about said split ring and interspersed between the teeth on said fastening means to lock said lid in sealed position on said cylinder, resilient sealing material inside said lid, the top of said lid being drawn down by said teeth on the side wall portion of said lid to bind said resilient material in sealing relationship with said cylinder, said last mentioned teeth being deformable by tension on said split ring to release said ring for removal of said lid.

TOM H. THOMPSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 1,969,120 Coakley Aug. 7, 1934 2,494,131 Jackson et a1. Jan. 10, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 15 Number Country Date 671,589 France Sept. '7, 1929 

